


summer all year round

by sun_incarnate



Series: taste the sun again [1]
Category: The Boyz (Korea Band)
Genre: Kevin moved away but came back for a day, M/M, Not Canon Compliant, Pining, Resolved Feelings, Summer, pools
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-05-20
Updated: 2020-05-20
Packaged: 2021-03-02 20:53:25
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,476
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24293149
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/sun_incarnate/pseuds/sun_incarnate
Summary: "hyung, say, would you go to the pools with me?"
Relationships: Kim Sunwoo/Moon Hyungseo | Kevin
Series: taste the sun again [1]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1976272
Comments: 11
Kudos: 85





	summer all year round

**Author's Note:**

> this is from when my friend clars and i decided to go *tbz as free! characters :D* one pre-dawn some weeks ago, but that isn't what this au's about
> 
> also after watching the genz and genz: zoom vids, i realized that here they might be ooc... but i wrote this weeks before the genz vid got released and still want to post so. hope you still enjoy !!

__________________

"hyung, say, would you go to the pools with me?" 

because it isn't so often that sunwoo gets to have a whole night with him. kevin moon will not always be near, be here, and to sunwoo just a night wouldn't be enough, not really. but this is the best he can get, the most he can hope for, and he'd trade all summers for this night to last. last. _their last._

but kevin's here now, _should we buy popsicles on the way?_ from his mouth, hair dye-brown and pushed back by a hairband. it leaves his face uncovered, and every detail of it is exposed and sharpened so. cheekbones, eyes, jawline, the purse of his lips; all cut-glass harsh edges. last time he'd been here, kevin had been softened by all the sweets they've eaten, cheeks rounded and collarbones hidden.

how large a thing change truly is. how fast it takes and swallows. times like this is when sunwoo gets reminded how little time he has with him.

anyway, _yeah, but you're paying, though,_ sunwoo leads kevin down the road. streets empty save for the stray cats, lamplights all morse code dots above sidewalks keeping the dark at bay. it's a small town settled ringing a lake, surrounded by mountains and train tracks all pointing away from everything sunwoo has ever grown to know.

"you've gotten cheeky, sun-ah." 

then there's a light punch against his arm, a playful shove next, and an earful of laughter barely held in by a hushed reminder that people are hours deep into dreams.

"fine, hyung will pay for your food. but–" kevin holds up a finger and not for the first time in his life, it amazes sunwoo how he can _hear_ him smiling–"just this once, okay?" 

sunwoo digs a hand deep into his only pocket and takes comfort from the cold metal of keys he finds underneath candy wraps. _just this once._ right. when's the next time they'll get to do this again?

they turn at a bend and walk a few more meters before kevin hastens and heads inside a convenience store. eager to explore, eyes alight, _last year this was a pub, sunwoo,_ and greets the boy manning the till with a soft voice.

sunwoo won't go inside, no, because the cashier on this shift is a part-time worker who used to tutor him in math after school. he wouldn't put it past _chanhee-hyung_ to make him count the change kevin will get after handing him money, down to the cents.

_as a challenge,_ he'll say when sunwoo opens his mouth to complain, _how good have you gotten at mental calculation?_

so sunwoo opts to crouch on the sidewalk instead and coaxes a cat from where it's huddled afraid beside the trash bin, staying silent because kevin will know to get the watermelon-flavoured popsicles, anyway, it's all they used to eat through nights like this one, all that kept them going burning through hours till daybreak. 

finally, _finally,_ the cat comes emerging from the shadow of the bin, and sunwoo's hand is already outstretched to pet it but the glass door opens, a muttered curse echoes silent, and he momentarily gets graced with the cold of the store's air-conditioning.

the cat slinks back to the shadows and sunwoo stays in his position, only thinking of getting back up when kevin balances a packaging of popsicle on his head. he catches it right as it's about to fall, watermelon flavor. he looks to the plastic bag hooked on the other's finger and sees a few more red packages when he peers inside. 

"why'd you get so much, hyung? won't we get sick from too much of these?" _why'd he spend so much, these are from his allowance, god, what if he goes back to college broke and his friends laugh at him?_

kevin takes the popsicle from his hands and opens it, ripping the plastic apart with his teeth. the silence of the night made the sound sharper and louder than what it just really is. kevin chuckles from deep down his throat; this too, reaches sunwoo sharp and loud. glass had never been gentle against skin anyway, any form it takes, uncut or broken to shards.

"knowing you, half of these will be gone by the time we open the gates to the pool."

and, _okay, maybe you're right about that, you know me so well, sue me,_ they're down the road again, easy banter slotting in place as if they've never been apart for one second. like always, like they used to. 

"you're right." because by the time sunwoo digs deep in his pocket for the keys to the gate in front of them, he'd already finished three of them. he isn't sure just how many the other would give him, so he takes the safer route and stops reaching for another. when they pass the gate creaking as it sways unlocked, he heads to the reception desk and shoves the remaining popsicles inside the mini-fridge underneath.

"to think you're stuck here all days of summer watching over kids as a part-timer, trusted enough for closing up and the keys," kevin says as he eyes the poolside chairs and the higher one for the lifeguard, then walking towards the nearest pool and whistling low as he sinks a hand underwater after crouching down. "god, the sweat is making me want to go skinny-dipping."

the image it brings to mind is uninvited, and sunwoo masks the flush he feels on his skin with a scoff, _is that what you learn in college, hyung,_ as he drags the nearest chair closer. the employees' lockers are right behind the reception desk, and sunwoo's gotten both of them towels from his before he came near, dropping them on the chair along with the keys.

now that the water's in front of him all inviting and cool, sunwoo is suddenly aware of the sweat layering his skin from the walk from both their houses. he feels sticky all over, making everything feel hotter. it had been like this all summer, nursing the urge to take a bath every few hours. it's almost enough to make him want to wish for winter, but winter is cold in more ways than one, and sunwoo had never learned how to be brave alone.

he looks over to kevin, who's removed his hairband and is already pulling his shirt off. sunwoo peels his own off of his body just in time so it covers his eyes, so he doesn't see the older expose skin. _as if i won't be spending all of tonight with both of us half-naked._

"what are you rolling your eyes for? get in already, you're making me feel hot with the way you're sweating buckets there," kevin says from where he's suddenly chest-deep in the water. sunwoo didn't even hear a splash, how'd he get there so fast?

nevertheless, he must have dipped his head under moments prior, hair already slick and pushed back wet. but sunwoo wants it slow, to have his body get used to the water before diving in, because change no matter how small is still frightening even in its notion alone, so he sits by the edge and dips his feet. the water reaches halfway up his calves, and kevin's freestyle makes waves that lick up just below his knees.

sunwoo ends up thinking about it again, because no matter how hard he tries to, he'll always go back to thinking of ways to make this night last. _i could've spent all summer watching you swim like this, hyung._

he's lost track of how many laps kevin had already done, and now he's heading back to where sunwoo's still seated thinking. _how good have you gotten at mental calculation?_

"i'll go down, hyung, sorry. just thinking about things." is what he says when kevin finishes and comes up to cross his arms atop sunwoo's thighs, head angled up to look at him and mouth already opening to question. the water from his skin bleeds through the fabric of sunwoo's shorts, something soothing and bringing relief.

he's probably imagining this, this something like worry and concern making shadows on the surface of kevin's skin, which otherwise reflects moonlight.

"you know you can talk to hyung about anything, right?" and sunwoo hates it, because distance isn't supposed to make things harder for both of them, just like what they've promised all those summers ago when kevin first left. it implies reservations, and even though sunwoo had always been private with his thoughts he couldn't have imagined that a time will come when he'll hesitate to pour his heart out to this person glowing doused silver before him.

he hates it, this feeling that tells him they've grown in their own ways apart from each other, and that there will always be things he wouldn't know about the older. 

_was really procrastinating, was i? the last day and this is when i start thinking like this._ sunwoo thought he'd left that habit to studying alone. why couldn't he have thought of this when they were just on the way, or when he was still on his own room, or before kevin arrived to steal a day from this season?

all of this year he spent loud, laughing with friends and soccer teammates and everybody else. so in his mind, he can't believe that his voice is this quiet thing when he says, "i missed you, kevin-hyung."

the water laps against tiles, and everything glows silver under the moonlight. sunwoo thinks of teartracks, and reins that thought in shortly after. crying is where he should probably draw the line tonight.

taps on his thigh. attention, _sun-ah, look at me,_ and he does. really look, because everything's blurry when veiled with tears, and he doesn't even try to hide it from the older. because if anything, kevin wouldn't like it when he tries to hide any hint of him being vulnerable.

he didn't mean to spend this night making himself sad over how much he misses kevin, and how much _it felt colder without you here, hyung_. because this night is supposed to be fun, it wasn't in the plan for kevin to nurse his lonely dongsaeng when he's close to going away again.

"colder without me? so that's why you were sweating so much tonight, huh? because you're with the impossibly-hot moon kevin?" he's got this self-satisfied smile on the line of his mouth, changing the way this conversation's going as if knowing that this isn't what sunwoo needs right now. 

if anything, the distraction in the shape of his lips is more than enough to help.

sunwoo sniffles at his attempt to lighten the mood, _whoever's heard of a hot moon? that's stupid,_ and that's apparently sign enough that whatever spell he'd been under is already broken. so he gently lifts the other's arms off from where they're still resting atop his thighs, realizes _god, they've been there this whole time_ , and drops to sink himself under the waters.

when he comes up for air, his head is already clearer. as intended, of course, he wouldn't want to be here with kevin treating him so fragile. he needs to move, be faster than all his thoughts so they couldn't ever catch up with him.

the time they've been away from each other, sunwoo had practice. to guard the pool, you'd have to be a decent swimmer, after all. so it's no wonder how he'd beaten kevin at every race he'd been challenged to, _it's all about pacing, hyung. you won't last long if you go all-out at the start._

"you practically live here in the pools all summer, and the only time i get to swim is when i dream. these years, i only swim in summers, sun-ah. college work and part-time jobs, all that."

and instead of dwelling on the fact that kevin feels worlds away with the words he's said, sunwoo rises out of the pool. it takes no effort to lift himself up using his arms braced on the poolside, while kevin hurls a _we get it, you have guns mister, stop flexing_ at him, as he maintains a firm grip on the rail to haul himself up. 

sunwoo retrieves the leftover popsicles and hands one to kevin, dragging an extra chair with his foot as he holds the treat with his teeth. he's closing his eyes through the cold of it, bordering obtaining brain freeze, but the way it tastes on his tongue is just heaven after the day's unforgiving heat. he leans against the back of the chair as he feels the popsicle melt in his mouth, its stick already dragging rough on the surface of his tongue.

"give me another," kevin all but whines, pout full on it's effectiveness, as if the thought of denying him anything had ever crossed sunwoo's mind. 

after sunwoo does hand him one, he takes the last for himself. kevin scoffs, _when have you started getting so greedy, sun-ah,_ but relents anyway. 

"let me be, hyung, you're never around to treat me with food anymore anyway." _this is all that i can get from you now, warm moonlight and a handful of popsicles._ sunwoo thinks of never letting the trance end, even if his lips go numb and swollen as the end approaches.

does kevin even miss treating him to every assortment of unhealthy food they'd find on convenience store aisles? does he miss spending time like this, lazing all day round and staying well past midnight? sunwoo could only wonder. he'd never been good with talking about deep things like this, anyway.

the moon's high in the sky when he looks up, the same position the sun would be at mid-afternoon. _ah, so that's why it's called midnight._ when he risks a sideways glance, kevin's mouth is open mid-rant, and he realizes he'd been zoning out. 

_of all the times i'd have chosen to not listen,_ sunwoo scolds himself as he says out loud, "come again, hyung?" 

kevin huffs out a breath, totally not serious despite how hard he tries to look irritated, and goes off again in this spiel about his lonely single self on valentines day, how he wished he could have had someone to give _romantic_ chocolates to, and how everybody around him had plans with their partners.

"all of my friends had dates going on, sun-ah. i was so alone and miserable, watching everyone around me get kissed." 

sunwoo looks at him, and in a surge of confidence coupled with the mind-fogging heatwave, says "well _i_ would've kissed you stupid, hyung. who'd not want to date you?" 

every moment after is spent praying it comes off as a joke even if this tiny part of him hopes that it won't so kevin will know why he misses him this much. it's the heat, sunwoo's brain helpfully supplies, because he's never this brave when it's cold. 

then, fools himself into thinking it's just his brain making things up when he looks up and almost swears he can see kevin blushing.

"right? who'd not want to date me? i'm so lovable, and i'd totally make a great boyfriend." and there's something pointed in the way kevin says this while looking at sunwoo, like it's a direct jab at him, like he's testing something as he reads sunwoo's face, and it's leaving him breathless. 

_no fucking way,_ sunwoo thinks, _there's no fucking way that'd mean what i think it means._

so he finishes his popsicle and hurries in licking his lips clean. he doesn't feel anything with them, even tried to sink his teeth unto them to test if they've truly gone numb senseless. he could only hope that kevin's already looked away.

everything's viscid sweet, and even if he's sure he's cleaned his lips up there's still this sticky feeling that won't leave. when he swipes his tongue across them again, there's no trace left of fruit flavor.

"i can't feel my fuckin' lips," kevin grumbles as he brings up a thumb to wipe across before licking them, finished with his popsicle and _that'_ _s so so unsanitary, hyung, we just came from the pool, what if the children pissed in there?_ even if they always clean the pool after lessons and _did you just curse? is that how college students behave?_

kevin is lain back and using the towel to dry his hair, making it stick up in every direction sunwoo could think of, and it's probably the threat of him leaving again that makes sunwoo process the glint of a silver stud on his ear when he turns his head, like he's only really taking in the details now and stuck on hyperfocus. that had never been there before, never been there last summer.

sunwoo briefly wonders if the older had had someone with him when he got his ear pierced, someone to hold him through what pain it must have brought, no matter how little or how great. if that someone could've been him if ever given the chance. _i'd totally make a great boyfriend._

right? because everything's sweltering in the season of the sun, and sunwoo's never felt more gutsy than ever, so he crosses the distance easy and doesn't overthink it when he plants his lips on the other's cheek, closer to the edge of his mouth more than anything, and says low, "yeah, me too hyung. i can't feel my fuckin' lips."

when he looks at their position, he realizes that he's way too into kevin's space, and that the bravery he'd felt is slowly dissolving now. there's this something unreadable in kevin's eyes when he risks a glance at them. so he turns to go back to his seat, because _really, that's one stupid move, kim sunwoo, you fumbling idiot, now hyung will never-_

half of his mind is stuck realizing _so this is what i've been waiting for all night long_ and the other half's screaming at him to _do something,_ because moon kevin—fine-boned and leaving in a few hours and glowing _like the moon that he is_ —is kissing him. holding him by the shoulders. _kissing him,_ right on his numb senseless can't-feel-anything lips.

like sure, the air's scorch hot, he hasn't towelled off all the pool-water from his hair so some drops collect on the hollow of his collarbones, his back is starting to ache from the way he's a little bent over the other in his seat, but this is moon kevin kissing him, and he feels like he should suck it all up and stop being whiny in his head.

sunwoo might've honest to god whined out loud though, _a goddamn embarrassment, nice going, kim,_ and kevin had probably taken this as some sort of signal in the language of kissing or something, because all of a sudden his lips are moving slow and hesitant against sunwoo's and _god, why'd i never think of doing this earlier?_

despite the ache he feels building up in his neck, sunwoo leans into the kiss and angles his head so to press closer still. and when kevin pauses for a second, sunwoo thinks he'd move away, that _oh, it's over now,_ because this can only last so long, really. but, 

kevin takes sunwoo's bottom lip between both of his and presses down gentle, teeth coming up next to nip at it soft. it makes sunwoo gasp, own mouth opening at the feeling of it. this is when kevin swipes his tongue to soothe the minuscule pain he must've have thought it brought, and this is when sunwoo tastes saccharinity, everything slow dragging syrupy deep against his mouth. 

there's the faint register of a hand dragging over his skin to move to the back of his neck as if to hold him in place, and if they haven't been stuck kissing each other sunwoo would've laughed, because he isn't moving away, never from this. he thinks he might not be able to, because who'd not want this?

_who?_ sunwoo has half a mind to have something from him leave marks on kevin or something, growl beginning low from the back his throat as he thinks of anybody else who might get a taste of this.

so he braces his arms on the back of the chair kevin's leaning against, because he's getting tired of his position but doesn't know if he's allowed to sit on the other's lap just yet, _kim sunwoo, a couple years before absolute legality and already testing the law._

but kevin's still holding him and a hand goes down from his shoulder to grasp at his waist and _fuck_ , he moves to sit at the edge of the seat but touches a thigh close to kevin's. everything tastes like chlorine but there's also the slight-sticky-sweet of all the watermelon popsicles they've had and sunwoo's close to praying gratitude for eating five of them and— _anything to taste sweet again._

there's a swipe of tongue against his lips again and before sunwoo can think of anything else to do in response to it, kevin's already moving away. not too much, not too far away, of course, but just enough that their lips part from each other's and sunwoo feels kevin's breath hot against his mouth. 

everything's heated up and they'll probably need another dive to the pool to cool down, but kevin laughs out this gush of air that leaves passing through his smile and he's shining even if sunwoo's shadow blocks the moonlight. his laughter dies down to a smirk, one side of his mouth tugged up and dragging swollen lips. it's damning sunwoo, thinking about how he's the one that made them _that_ red.

"still can't feel your lips, sun-ah?" kevin rasps before him, voice deep deep from his throat and lips all plumped tender-red glistening. there's a flush on his cheeks, and sunwoo lets himself wonder for a second if he looks like that.

suddenly conscious of how he looks at the moment, sunwoo runs a hand down his face and stands upright, the water on the dip of his collarbones flowing down his chest. it tickles, and when he brings up a hand to scratch where it itches most he can feel the thunders his heart make. _how did i make it out of that alive?_

"didn't think you'd actually kiss me, hyung," sunwoo replied, voice already turning soft because he doesn't know where they stand just yet, what _this_ is, how he should act, _if kevin-hyung even feels the same way or it's just a game for him to toy with his dongsaeng._

sunwoo feels a pang somewhere deep in his chest as he thinks of that last thought, because in kevin's eyes he's probably forever this kid that waits for his hyung to come back from the city, so easy to fool and kiss and play with, because kevin didn't even say it back when he'd said he missed hi-

"i really missed you, sunwoo. all these months away, i really _really_ did miss you." 

kevin stands up but keeps his head down, and this, he realizes, this is that something in his eyes that sunwoo's failed to read before. mirrored want, reflected longing. understanding but hesitating, like he feels the same way sunwoo does. like he was just too scared to reach out and take.

"i've spent a long time adjusting, sun-ah. it had been so hard trying to live normally when normal used to mean being with you." 

sunwoo's ashamed of thinking that the other's some type of player, because now that he thinks about it he can never really imagine kevin doing something like that to anybody. he was always considerate and thoughtful and mindful of his actions, and a train ride and living in a bustling city couldn't have changed that. heck, if sunwoo didn't even kiss him first he most definitely wouldn't do anything.

"bin-hyung, look at me." but kevin's head stays down, and sunwoo decides to revert back to teasing and being his usual self again. anything to make kevin look at him.

so he'll lead this, because kevin isn't like him who gets braver in the heat, and this weather's probably not helping with thinking, either. so sunwoo will dare, equal parts afraid and excited that he's given the chance to gamble.

"i've already done and kissed you stupid, hyung," sunwoo reminded him, taking delight in the way the other's ears take on the color of his still-tender lips, "i don't know about the totally great boyfriend part, though." _banter_ , sunwoo's always good at teasing and easy banter.

at that, kevin looks up, eyes wide unblinking and surprise painting every inch of his moon-drenched face. as if he can't quite believe what he's heard. at this, sunwoo smiles smug, _i just spent some long minutes making out with you, hyung, come on, head in the game,_ and comes closer.

what he receives is a hug and a light smack of a palm against his chest, _can't believe i kissed that bratty mouth of yours_ , and a peck on his lips before kevin moves to look at him at arm's length.

"maybe we could try that boyfriend part, from now on." 

and because sunwoo can't help but want to have the last _everything_ , he kisses kevin on the cheek again and holds him tighter, _fine with me_ , and stores the taste of watermelon in his brain.

it's some time before they finally lock up the gates, skin all tingly and itchy from the chlorine. kevin offers to have him sleep over, _my house is closer anyway, sun-ah_ , but sunwoo declines, not wanting to get in the way of him packing bags. 

because the moon's on its way to setting already, but even if sunwoo thinks he should be sad over this he really doesn't feel like it. sure, kevin's going away again, his train leaves an hour after dawn, and sunwoo's just beginning to dream of a time when he'd be with kevin all year-round and not just on one summer night, when he'd be with him weaving other dreams and staying with him in seoul.

it will take some time, though, and they'd need to talk about where they stand, but sunwoo doesn't really mind. next term he's off to college anyways, and he'd planned to go study in the city with a soccer scholarship and all the academic credits he'd accumulated, anyway.

because kevin missed and kissed _him_ , they're starting to understand what they're beginning to be now, and that's enough for sunwoo to last him through everything, even for more summers than he could ever count mentally, or with these hands held between kevin's as they make their way down the road back home.

__________________

**Author's Note:**

> most of the italics are just sunu's thoughts (intrusive or not) n msorry i just hhh sunu = summer vibes + listening to kiss me kiss me by 5sos
> 
> hello :] !! [my twt!](https://mobile.twitter.com/jjukyus) [my curiouscat!](https://curiouscat.qa/kyuisms)


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